Invectivity and Mobility. Historical-sociological Perspectives on Social Figures and Border Crossings in the 19th and 20th Century

Inputs by:

Robert Braun, Assistant Professor of Sociology and Political Science an der UC Berkeley (California, USA)

Sonja Engel/Dominik Schrage, Teilprojekt I des SFB 1285/Institut für Soziologie, TU Dresden

Mirjam Gräbner, ehemalige Mitarbeiterin des Teilprojekts I des SFB 1285/Institut für Soziologie, TU Dresden

Der Workshop findet in englischer Sprache statt. Zur Vorbereitung werden jeweils ein vorbereitender Text von Robert Braun und Sonja Engel/Dominik Schrage zur Verfügung gestellt.

Aufgrund der andauernden Corona-Epidemie müssen ist die Anzahl der Teilnehmer:innen auf 10 Personen begrenzt, es gilt die 3G-Regel.

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Both Robert Braun’s research and the one conducted by Sonja Engel and Dominik Schrage (Teilprojekt I) explore how invective social figures produce social order and shape collective identities in times of social transformation. Social transformation creates conflict by pitting groups who aim to preserve spatial and social stability against those who aim to transform or transcend it. Invective social figures are intimately tied to this fault line as it helps groups on both sides to guard the gates of difference, to police undesired behavior and to draw up a vision of the future. However, the invective figures take fundamentally different forms on both sides of the divide. While groups that aim to defend the status quo often draw on invective social figures that highlight the monstrous nature of spatial dislocation and social mobility (what we call ›status quo invective‹), groups that cherish these transformations evoke invective characters which emphasize the dark side of too much social stasis and spatial attachment (›transformation invective‹). Often, those invectives are entangled with anti-Semitic and antiziganistic attitudes and arguments, as these groups are seen as alien and dangerous for the German Volk.

Our main objective in this workshop is to explore interdependencies and interactions between these types of invectives. Short inputs by Robert Braun, Sonja Engel/Dominik Schrage and Mirjam Gräbner will present different Social Figures and their relations to transformations of social order. Robert Braun’s input concentrates on the figure of the Bogeyman (Kinderschreck) and explores the ›status quo invective‹ in Weimar Germany. Sonja Engel and Dominik Schrage will present findings of their study on the Invectives against ›Spießbürger‹ in the 19^th century (including the related Figures ›Philister‹/philistines, and ›Kleinbürger‹/petit bourgeois). These invectives gain plausibility on the background of a positive attitude towards transformation. Finally, Mirjam Gräbner explores the notion of mobility invectives in the late 20^th century, that is fueled by different attitudes against mobility itself and thus creates Social Figures like ›Somewheres‹ and ›Anywheres‹.